Optimum Design of Hydraulic Shock Absorber Using Electrorheological Fluid.

Abstract

We propose an optimum design method for a new of type hydraulic shock absorber in which the resisting force matches that of impacts of various masses using electrorheological (ER) fluid having apparent viscosity that can be modified with an electric field. Comparing the results of the optimally designed ER shock absorber and an existing shock absorber with a metering pin, it is shown that the maximum acceleration of a light body (1250kg) nearly equals that of a heavy body (2250kg) during impact for a system containing the ER shock absorber, while the maximum acceleration of the former is about 2 times that of the latter during impact for a system containing the existing shock absorber. In addition, it is shown that the maximum accelerations obtained using the optimum design method are reduced by 0.9∼8.9% compared with those obtained using a method proposed in a previous paper using a constant resisting force in the shock absorber.